Manly hooker Dave Porecki on the charge in his side’s 23-15 win over Northern Suburbs
Photo: seiserphotography.com

by Brendan Bradford –

The Manly Marlins have bolstered their finals credentials with a well-won 23-15 victory over Northern Suburbs at North Sydney Oval. The result leaves Manly in fourth place on the table with one game to play while Norths have it all to do as they slip to ninth behind Warringah.

Leading from first minute to last courtesy of tries to flyhalf Marshall Milroy and a double for winger Jacob Woodhouse, Manly’s physical forward pack created the perfect platform by dominating the set-piece and not allowing the Shoremen a chance to attack out wide.

“We started well and played to our structures which we’ve been working on over the last few weeks,” said Manly captain Ed Gower.

“We went away from that in the second half through a combination of errors and extra pressure from Norths, so for us, we need to be more consistent. The finals series is a step up from the rounds and we need to just work hard on consistency across 80-minutes.”

Marlins fullback Adam D’Arcy is wrapped up by the Norths defence – Photo: seiserphotogrpahy.com

Despite trailing by more than 10 at several stages of the match, Norths fought back gamely to outplay Manly at the breakdown in the second half but lacked the finishing instinct to win the game.

“We started really slowly and weren’t up to game pace early on,” said Norths captain Nick Lah.

“We got back into the game and put some good phases together but those one-percenters cost us again today, and they’ve been costing us all season, but today we had our opportunities but just couldn’t finish them.

“For us now, we have to win next week, Warringah got up today so that puts us back into ninth and it’s must win semi-finals for us from next week.”

Manly got off to a perfect start by regathering their own kick-off and slotting a penalty after just two minutes. Boasting Eddie Aholelei, Cadeyrn Neville, Ed Gower and Jordy Reid in a powerful forward pack, the Marlins dominated the early set-piece and a scrum penalty after 15-minutes allowed fullback Adam D’Arcy to add another three points for a 6-0 lead.

Hooker Dave Porecki went close to scoring after some slick counterattack and Milroy sprayed a drop-goal attempt wide as Manly bossed the opening quarter.

For all the Marlins’ dominance up front, their opening try was straight out of the counterattacking playbook. Melbourne Rebels flanker Jordy Reid made 30-metres after a turnover but was quickly hunted down by Norths fullback Liam Windon. Seeing open space ahead of him, Reid put boot to ball and the nasty bounce turned Windon inside out but landed perfectly for the Marlins to regather. The Norths defence retreated quickly, but a quick shift to the left allowed Milroy to scythe through the line and extend the lead to 11-0 after 20 minutes.

Avoiding Manly’s monstrous pack in the middle of the park, the Shoremen attacked the edges through their dangerous back three of Windon, Elih Bailie and Jac Cameron while flyhalf Scott Daruda got Norths on the board with a penalty in his side’s only foray into the Manly 22 in the first half.

Bill Meakes was a danger-man for Norths all afternoon – Photo: seiserphotography.com

Defence has been a strong point of the Northern Suburbs game over the past two seasons and the Shoremen did well to repel most of the Marlins’ attack in the first half by flooding the breakdown and forcing mistakes. A prolonged period of attack late in the half proved too much though and winger Jacob Woodhouse benefitted from an overlap to stroll into the corner and take the lead to 18-3 at the break.

Norths needed to score first after the resumption, which they did through a Baillie try on the right which Daruda converted from the touchline, but Woodhouse immediately negated the effort, scoring his second try for a 23-10 advantage.

Backrower Pat Sio was an instant impact off the bench for the Shoremen, but persistent handling errors kept them from adding to their score until replacement wing Corey Brown sprinted 25-metres down the left flank to narrow the score to 23-15 with a quarter to play.

The try sparked the Shoremen into action. Taking advantage of some tiring ruck defence, Norths punched forward and kept the Marlins deep in their own half with precision kicks to the corner and a succession of soft penalties. But still, points proved elusive.

A turnover and a penalty with five minutes remaining got Manly out of trouble and the visitors marched down the field and closed out the game for a 23-15 win.

The Marlins host Southern Districts next weekend in the battle for third place, while Norths must beat West Harbour to have any chance of making the top eight.

Manly 23 (Jacob Woodhouse 2, Marshall Milroy tries; Adam D’Arcy con, 2 pens) d Northern Suburbs 15 (Elih Baillie, Corey Brown tries; Scott Daruda con, pen)